Chapter 193 - 191: King vs. King

Chapter 193: Chapter 191: King vs. King

The two "men" before Fu Juemin were of different heights—one tall, one short.

The tall one’s eyes were crimson, his face a mask of violent numbness. He wore clothes similar to the death row uniforms Fu Juemin had seen in the Public Concession Prison.

His right arm was disproportionately thick, its skin a coarse, dark green. The knuckles of his five fingers protruded grotesquely, like the forelimb of some ferocious, reptilian Demon Fiend.

Where the arm met his torso, blackish-red muscles and veins bulged and twisted like the gnarled roots of an old tree, looking as if they would tear through the skin at any moment. Perhaps because the arm was so heavy, his center of gravity was unstable as he walked, causing him to limp.

The other, shorter one had sparse hair, and his entire spine was bent in a morbid, bizarre curve, forcing him into a near-crouch.

He was bare-chested, his back densely covered in cyan-black scales. Even more striking, sharp black bone spurs protruded all along his spine, making him look like a giant, mutated hedgehog.

’So these are the man-made Demon Fiends Luo Zhengxiong and the Westerners have been concocting?’

The instant the thought flashed through his mind, Fu Juemin was already in motion!

Executing the Bird-style Flight from the Five Beasts Qigong while in his [Demon Body] state, Fu Juemin’s movements held none of their usual lightness. Instead, he projected a brutish and majestic momentum, like a great roc bearing down on its prey.

In a single dive, he was upon the two. His massive, imposing frame blocked the faint light of the explosion-proof lamp overhead, casting a vast, dense, man-shaped shadow.

"WHOOSH—"

Fu Juemin brought a palm down, striking at the nearest man with the demon arm.

With the Sea Covering Seal, his palm displaced cubic meters of air, creating a terrifying wave of pressure!

The Palm Wind blasted the man’s filthy, matted hair backward and pulled the stiff skin of his face taut. Yet he showed no fear, instead proactively raising that inhuman demon arm to meet Fu Juemin’s strike.

"BANG—!"

The two enormous palms slammed together, unleashing a visible white shockwave of air.

Fu Juemin felt only a slight pause from the impact before his opponent flew backward like a burst sack, slamming heavily onto the ground.

Just then, the short, thin man with the spined back curled his body into a ball. By some unknown means of propulsion, he began to spin in place at high speed, becoming like a spiked tire as he howled and rolled rapidly toward Fu Juemin.

Fu Juemin narrowed his eyes. He unleashed the Bear Striking Form from his Five Beasts Qigong, his strike a mix of brute force and clever skill. He slapped the side of the "tire," sending it flying.

At the same time, another sharp sound of tearing air cut through the noise!

Fu Juemin looked up to see that the man with the demon arm, whom he had just sent flying, was already pressing the attack again.

The monstrously large claw swept horizontally like a rake. A gale assaulted his face, and Fu Juemin instinctively raised his arm to block—

"BAM!"

The hideous claws seized his forearm. The terrifying force they contained made his body tremble slightly, and the tips of the claws scraped a shower of blinding sparks against his [Copper Hide].

Fu Juemin’s brow furrowed. With a twist of his body, he closed the distance and brought down another "Mountain Shattering Seal."

This time, the airflow converged around his five fingers, forming an invisible vortex that gathered in his palm.

The palm landed squarely on the man’s skull. With a dull THUD, the man didn’t even make a sound as Fu Juemin brutally drove his entire head and neck down into his chest cavity.

Foul-smelling blood sprayed out. The headless body, its chest now bizarrely "swollen," could no longer maintain its balance and staggered before collapsing to the ground.

Even after falling, the demonic, dark-green arm continued to twitch slightly, as if it possessed some extremely strong self-consciousness.

Fu Juemin watched the Golden Energy on his character panel slowly increase, an unreadable expression on his face.

The good news was that killing these man-made Demon Fiends also yielded a certain amount of energy. Though not much, it was comparable to what one would get from ordinary "Fierce Ghosts and Evil Souls."

The bad news was that their combat strength was much higher than he’d expected. It seemed that through techniques like organ and limb transplantation, living people had been given some of the traits and brute force of Demon Fiends.

They were unexpectedly formidable. Take the demon-armed man he had just killed—ignoring his slow movements and other flaws, his instantaneous destructive power was far greater than that of a typical Late Stage of Tongxuan practitioner. A single swipe of his claw had shaken Fu Juemin’s [Demon Body], and he had withstood two of Fu Juemin’s attacks before dying.

’The Western gentleman I saw back at the Su River Beach seemed to lean more toward precision mechanical modification. These things, however, are more like pure Demon Flesh and Blood transplants... The former was slightly weaker in terms of destructive power and burst potential, but the technology was clearly more mature, with more balanced and perfected abilities in all aspects...’

Fu Juemin glanced at the demon-armed man he had killed, but he didn’t find any metal tags or similar items on the body.

Just then, a sharp gust of wind came from behind. Fu Juemin couldn’t afford to think anymore. He focused his mind, spun around, and immediately struck back.

After killing the Guardian Demon, the duration of his Three Souls in One Body [Demon Body] state had less than two minutes remaining. Fu Juemin didn’t plan to dawdle. He figured he’d kill a few more, gather enough for his second Skill Point, and then retreat.

He had the Demon Soul Force of three great demons combined, and he was accomplished in the Martial Dao. Dealing with these "defective, man-made Demon Fiends"—whose strengths were as prominent as their weaknesses—was just a matter of a little extra effort.

Fu Juemin lashed out several times, easily crushing a number of the demon test subjects. He watched as the golden-amber energy on his character panel steadily rose, getting closer and closer to filling up for a second time.

"HUUUFF—"

A moment later, Fu Juemin stood amidst a floor covered in the twisted, torn, and bizarre corpses of the test subjects. His hands hung loosely at his sides, dark-red, viscous drops of blood dripping one by one from his fingertips....

An invisible, malevolent aura and a thick miasma, saturated with the heavy stench of blood, slowly radiated outward from him.

Despite the killing spree, the number of demon test subjects in the not-so-large underground space hadn’t decreased. In fact, their numbers seemed to be growing.

The bizarre test subjects surrounded him completely. Suddenly, a high-speed, spinning, rusted blade-wheel tore through the air, flying straight for his face.

Fu Juemin didn’t even lift an eyelid. He casually raised a hand, and with a crisp "CLANG," he sent the blade-wheel flying with a bare-handed flick.

Empowered by [Copper Hide], the test subjects’ attacks were still a fair ways off from breaking his Defense.

’Just... one more.’

Fu Juemin glanced at his character panel, randomly picked the nearest demon test subject, and moved, intending to kill it and leave.

But at that exact moment— "WHOOSH—"

An intensely ferocious gale erupted from the side without any warning.

In that instant, the several great Demon Souls within Fu Juemin’s body all opened their eyes, letting out agitated and uneasy roars.

Alarm bells screamed in Fu Juemin’s mind. He almost instinctively changed direction.

Beneath his [Copper Hide], the two Talents, [Meat Mountain] and [Soft Bone], were pushed to their absolute limits.

Terrifying power gathered in an instant, raising a hideous bulge under his skin. Blue veins writhed and squirmed beneath it like small snakes.

He fiercely struck a palm toward the incoming gale. Under this extreme, life-or-death pressure, the potential of Fu Juemin’s [Demon Body] was pushed further. In a flash of insight, he seemed to pry open a crack in the "Infinite Seal Technique" that he had yet to fully comprehend.

Combining his astonishing physical might with the exquisite power generation of the Dragon Elephant Seal Technique, Fu Juemin’s palm strike seemed to subjugate the surrounding air with an invisible force. The air rapidly converged, then transformed into a slowly rotating, all-grinding "Invisible Giant Mill"—faintly reminiscent of the might Li Tong had displayed during his battle with the water monkeys on the riverbank.

However, before the might of the "Invisible Giant Mill" could fully manifest, a dark-green giant claw—several times thicker than a normal person’s thigh and covered in cyan-black scales—slammed down with overwhelming force!

"BOOM!—"

The Palm Momentum of Fu Juemin’s strike was easily pierced and shattered!

The moment their palms met, a deafeningly terrifying sound erupted!

The next second, he was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string, viciously embedding himself into the steel-plated wall to the side.

"HUFF—CHHH—HUFF—CHHH—"

It sounded like the bellows of a giant incinerator. A hot, fetid, and foul wind swept through the entire tunnel.

A colossal figure, over three meters tall and nearly touching the arched ceiling of the tunnel, walked out slowly from behind the crowd of demon test subjects, its steps heavy.

"I could overlook you killing Deputy He. After all, if a ’Spirit Shell’ is destroyed, I can just find another."

A hoarse, grating voice sounded, like a rusted gear being forced to turn within flesh and blood.

"But why did you have to kill my ’Palace Guardian Demon Dragon’?"

A golden, cold, vertical pupil locked firmly onto Fu Juemin, who was still embedded in the steel wall. Slowly, it sniffed the air, and the light in its vertical pupil gradually grew greedy and feverish.

"Those ’Spiritual Limbs’ of yours... how are they so perfectly integrated?"

"Wen Zhiqiu sent you, didn’t he? Where... where did he get such perfect technology?"

"Answer me—!!"

The final roar became a tangible shockwave of sound, causing the entire tunnel to buzz. Rivets that had been blasted loose fell like clattering raindrops, and a nearby explosion-proof lamp inside its iron cage flickered erratically.

"KRAK.... RUMBLE..."

Fu Juemin pushed aside the rubble and twisted steel plates pressing against him, "struggling" to free himself from the wall before slowly walking out and coming to a stop.

He looked at the "monster" before him. It was several times the size of a normal demon test subject, a being that seemed to incorporate all the demonic features of the other subjects. Feeling the chaotic, savage, and terrifyingly horrific aura it emanated, his expression grew progressively more solemn.

But when his gaze inadvertently fell upon the black, dragon-patterned commander’s uniform the creature was wearing—a uniform stretched so taut it was nearly bursting, yet still barely recognizable....

An incredible suspicion struck Fu Juemin’s mind like a thunderclap.

With a look of utter disbelief, Fu Juemin blurted out, "You... you’re Luo Zhengxiong?!"

Across from him, Luo Zhengxiong narrowed one eye, while a red glow flared in the other socket.

"Don’t you know... that I’m the one asking the questions here?"

As he spoke, a tremendous BOOM echoed as the ground beneath Luo Zhengxiong suddenly collapsed and exploded.

His enormous, bloated body erupted forward with unnatural speed, like a Meat Mountain ruthlessly bearing down on Fu Juemin.

Fu Juemin’s pupils contracted violently. His heart suddenly pounded in his chest like a war drum. Moving both arms at once, he simultaneously struck upward with the Covering Sea and Collapsing Mountain seals!